Leadership Styles
The type of leadership style that a leader incorporates in their daily duties leads to the success or failure of the organization. An effective leader needs to know how the proper way of giving directions, implementing plans, and motivating other team members to meet both personal and professional goals in an organization. Khaled Al Melhi was appointed as the CEO of one of the biggest tech companies in UAE- Injazat Data Systems. The success of the organization since the appointment of Khaled shows his ability to lead and experience in managing people and unparalleled mission to meet organizational goals. Khaled Al Melhi has achieved success as a leader because of deploying democratic, authoritative, and delegative styles of leadership to ensure the organization achieves set targets.
Democratic Style of Leadership
Through incorporating the democratic style of leadership, Khaled Al Melhi ensured that his team actively participated in the important decisions that propelled the organization forward. According to (), the democratic style of leadership refers to a platform where senior and junior team members share their thoughts about a particular idea as well as the repercussions. Khaled allowed the members to find fresh perspectives through having such discussions. His team was thus incorporated in the development and implementation of major ideas that led to the success of Injazat. After the team had deliberated on the appropriate ideas to implement, Khaled would then critically scrutinize them and advise the board appropriately. Since his appointment in 2017, employees at Injazat claim to have deepened their knowledge on IT services and data provision but more importantly, how to be the leading data provider in the UAE. As such, both the senior and junior teams feel that they have grown with the organization through the democratic style of leadership.
The use of the democratic style by Khaled Al Melhi ensured that his employees are loyal and delegated tasks were completed on time. As noted by (), incorporating the democratic style of leadership, Khaled managed to build trust with his team thus minimizing instances where mistakes could occur. When employees share ideas, they continue to learn about how to improve on their delivery and complete their tasks professionally. Stellar employees lead to the success of short and long term organizational goals. More importantly, professional employees help in the mission of the organization of combining industry expertise with scale to digitally transform UAE. It is imperative to note that the success achieved by Injazat is mainly from having highly motivated employees who work closely with the senior leaders to meet personal and professional goals. Through such, democratic style of leadership benefited both employees and employers at Injazat.
Authoritative Style of Leadership
Khaled Al Melhi incorporates the authoritative style of leadership which is considered a mark of all confident leaders. According to (), an authoritative leader maps the way forward for their employees through energizing and engaging with them to meet the set goals and objectives. Authoritative leaders are considered vital since they aid employees overcome uncertainties especially if there are goals to be met. Khaled Al Melhi brought critical leadership skills as he has previous experience managing corporates. Therefore, employees considered him the cornerstone of Injazat especially managing the diverse community in the organization. He achieved this by understanding that each individual has a unique talent or skill to offer the organization. Such employees felt appreciated and this increased their confidence as well as the ability to complete their tasks professionally. Also, Khaled Al Melhi regularly sat down with his employees to determine if they had any problems. The physical interaction with his team hugely contributed to his success and this would not have been possible without incorporating the authoritative style of leadership.
The success achieved by Khaled Al Melhi proves that the leadership style can be implemented in other organizations. One factor that constantly hinders the success of employees is being uncertain about their tasks especially how to deliver. It is the responsibility of an authoritative leader to instill confidence in their team members by creating an atmosphere of trust and openness. Through such, employees can ask for help to handle tasks that seem challenging for them leading to the result is perfect. Khaled Al Melhi constantly held meetings with his team to discuss the progress of assigned tasks. Any possible problems were discussed and mitigation measures were implemented on time. The insight and guidance showed by Khaled Al Melhi prove the leadership style can be adopted and implemented in other companies.
Delegative Style of Leadership
The trust and meaning relationships created between Khaled Al Melhi and his team allowed him to also incorporate the delegative style of leadership. The delegative style of leadership involves the leader leaving the decision making to his team but they will be held accountable in case of any failures (). Also, the leader does not have to be physically involved, therefore trusts his team can handle the assigned tasks. As the CEO of an organization that is a subsidiary of the government, there were high expectations since his appointment in 2017. For instance, his schedule involves attending numerous meetings to discuss the way forward for Injazat. As such, he could not attend all these meetings and still work physically with his team. His prior experience however led him to build trust and relationships with his team. More importantly, he regularly attended workshops that sharpened the skills of his team thus increasing their confidence. Delegative style of leadership positively influences team leaders since they are tasked with major decisions regarding tasks assigned.
The delegative style of leadership can be implemented in other organizations. When implemented well, delegating tasks improves the confidence of team members as they make executive decisions on behalf of their leader. However, a leader needs to be well trained to implement this style of leadership since they are held accountable in case of any failures. Team members may be uncertain about specific tasks either due to a lack of qualification or confidence. It is therefore the responsibility of the leader to adequately prepare his team before delegating the tasks. In this case, Khalid Al Melhi had previous experience holding a similar position at Bayanat (). He knew how to prepare his team and equip them with the proper tools to make executive decisions regarding important tasks. Throughout his term as chairman of Injazat, the growth experienced by the organization is attributed to his delegative style of leadership.
Conclusion
As evidenced above, Khaled Al Melhi incorporated democratic, delegative, and authoritative styles of leadership to achieve success at Injazat as CEO. As a leader, Khaled comprehends how crucial it is for employees to have freedom in the workplace. Involving the employees in the decision-making process allows them to grow with the company. Moreover, involving them in decision making prepares them for the delegative style of leadership. As noted above, this is the leadership style where employees are tasked with major decisions regarding assigned tasks while the leader is absent. In this case, Khaled Al Melhi trusted his team leaders to make competent decisions and ensure all assigned tasks are completed professionally. To achieve this, Khaled needed to remove any uncertainties or doubts from team members through regular workshops and training. Khaled Al Melhi succeeded in this due to his incorporation of the authoritative style of leadership. All in all, Injazat continues to be the global leader in IT services and digital transformation in the UAE under the charismatic leadership of Khaled Al Melhi.
References
Gandolfi, F., & Stone, S. (2017). The emergence of leadership styles: A clarified categorization. Revista De Management Comparat International, 18(1), 18.
Injazat (2020). About Us. https://www.injazat.com/en/about.php
Mubadala (2017). Khaled Al Melhi Appointed as CEO of Injazat Data Systems. https://www.mubadala.com/en/news/khaled-al-melhi-appointed-ceo-injazat-data-systems#:~:text=Khaled%20Al%20Melhi%20commented%20on,IT%20services%20in%20the%20region.
Odumegwu, C. (2019). Democratic Leadership Style and Organizational Performance: An Appraisal. Development, 9(3).
Zulfikar, V. A., & Rahman, R. S. (2019). Effect of Delegative Leadership on Achievement Motivation and Continuous Commitment. Kontigensi: Scientific Journal of Management, 7(2), 44-53.